The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10
As I am sitting here attempting to write this blog, I feel sort of at a loss for words. I want to explain to you everything that I saw today, but anything I write seems wrong somehow. This afternoon our team had an opportunity to go visit a local garbage dump. All we were told was that we were going to make sandwiches and take them to the kids at the dump. Now Puerto Barrios is a pretty small place from what we have seen so far. Nothing has been very big or over the top. So, I guess for that reason, when they told us about the dump, I was picturing just a few piles of garbage with a couple of kids running around. Would it be sad? Sure. Would I hate the fact that children are playing in a dump? Of course.
But I don’t think anything in me was prepared for what we saw when we got there.
After waiting around at the radio station for an hour, we finally left, only to get a flat tire 10 minutes later. Luckily, we were not too far from the dump, so we got out of the van and walked. We were all relatively quiet on the way there. Maybe we were just tired. Or maybe we somehow all sensed we were about to walk into something big. As we got closer to the dump, we passed more and more shacks on the side of the road- little communities based around the trash. We started to get closer. There was trash everywhere on the sides of the road and the smell was overwhelming. Garbage was burning and huge vultures were scavenging for food.
As we came around the corner, I finally saw the whole thing. It was huge. Really huge. And it smelled- it really smelled. There flies and bees EVERYWHERE- swarming the trash, filling the air, landing on us. Dump trucks kept driving by and dumping their trash. We all just stood there, swatting flies, overwhelmed, not really sure what to do.
Then I started to see the people. There were little shacks that lined the edge of the dump- just little open rooms filled with trash. I almost leaned over and asked if those were their homes, but then I realized I already knew the answer. I just didn’t want to believe it. People started passing out sandwiches. I wanted to help, but I felt frozen. All I could do was stand there and watch what was going on around me- it felt like a movie I wasn’t really a part of. I saw children sitting in the shacks, flies swarming around them. I saw an old woman and a little boy walk down into the dump, box in hand, ready to collect anything that may be of some value. We were only there for probably 20 minutes or so. Some people were literally getting sick from the smell, and I don’t think any of us were really prepared for what we were seeing. We started to walk away- I took one long look back. I didn’t want to forget it. I guess I thought I owed them that somehow.
Now we are home, and I am trying to process all of this. I wish I had a great, deep ending to this blog. But honestly, I have way more questions than answers at the moment. All I keep thinking is that Satan comes to steal, and kill, and destroy. He comes to take away life- and there was no life at this place. NONE. But Jesus came to give life, and give it to the full. But the problem is, I am not sure how to bring life to a place that is so DEAD. I don’t know how to tell people of Jesus and HIs love when I am nauseous from the smell and covered in flies. So I guess that is why I feel frustrated right now- frustrated with the situation and frustrated with me. I have no idea how to bring hope to such a hopeless situation. So I guess I am just going to ask you to pray- pray for those people living at the dump. Pray that LIFE and HOPE would come to a place that is saturated in darkness and despair. Pray that the people would come to know the giver of LIFE.
